Thursday, February 27, 2014

And if you seek to consistently generate compelling messages
and work on a prolific scale as a communicator, you need better constants.

Muscles to count on, places to return to, rituals to abide
by, people to confide in, rocks to anchor to, practices to rely on, structures
to lean against, these routines become the repertoire of faithful forces to
keep your creative life stable and fruitful when circumstances get a little too
overwhelming.

I prefer vomiting.

That’s the term I use for a gasket where you purge everything that happens to
you. A dailyritual of
emotional release where you metabolize
your experiences, make serious mental headway into your ideas and get the
creative faucet flowing. A space without circumference, a private
container of safety where judgment can’t enter and a free venue where ideas can
run free without the scrutiny of readers, critics, editors and yourself.

Julia Cameron, author of the bestselling series The Artist’s Way, pioneered this journaling
exercise twenty years ago. She called it morning pages. Here’s how it works:

First thing in the morning, even before checking email, open
a blank document, either on paper or on your computer. Spew out every single
thought and feeling and idea that’s running through your mind. Dreams, worries,
fears, annoyances, ideas, what you did the day before, everything. Keep writing
until you’ve filled up three pages.And
when you’re done, feel free to save or trash the document, and then get on with
your day.

Try it for a week, and you’ll quickly find that that vomiting
is one of the constants you won’t be able to live without. And the best part
is, there’s no one right way to do it.
What matters is that you understand the science behind it as a constant. What
matters is that you trust the process as a gateway to prolificacy.

In fact, it’s quite scientific.

Cameron’s field research on morning pages is extensive and
clinically proven. In each of the books in her series on creativity, she shares
case studies, insights and breakthroughs from readers around the world who committed
to this daily ritual and saw real results.

And since I’ve devoured every book she’s ever written, I’ve
taken the liberty of creating a summary of the science behind morning pages.
First, here’s what they are.
They are time outs. They are portable solitude. They are
rituals of reflection. They are a form of meditation. They help you listen to
yourself. They are the first check in of the day. They are the basic tools of
creative unblocking. They are psychological holding environments. They are
gateways to inner and higher selves. They are gripe sessions where you work out
your grudges. They are moments of free association and celebration.

They are catcher’s mitts for many small ideas that lead to
larger breakthroughs.

Second, here’s what they do:

Lend you stability. Prioritize your day. Keep you grounded. Give
you a place to ventilate.

Give you the privacy you crave. Help you take accurate stock
of your life. Provide a place to examine the many aspects of an experience. Reframe
our failures into lessons learned. Galvanize your days and make you acutely
attuned to your personal feelings.

Give us immediate access to creative energy, point us in the
direction of our growth and make us intimate with ourselves, which allows us to
be more authentically intimate with others.

Thirdly, here’s why they work:

You awaken your intuition. You must train your censor to
stand aside. You get current, catch up on yourself and pinpoint precisely what
you are feeling and thinking. You tap into a creative energy that flows like a
subterranean river through your life. You can find out what you like and don’t
like. You can report precisely and just let yourself write. You get down on the
page whatever it is you are. You keep your spirit from being parched and dry. You
can miniaturize irrational worries and underscore your legitimate concerns in a
sorting process. You draw to your attention those areas of your life that need
your focus. You discover that a little trickle of writing keeps the flow from
closing down completely.Lastly, here’s why they matter:Morning pages are a perfect way
to create off the
record. There’s just something beautiful and healthy about those never before never
again moments when we give ourselves permission to create off the record. To
make things without the burden of evidence. It’s a helpful way to keep our
creative practice balanced. And since the impulse to make things on the
record is a primary characteristic of human beings, it’s liberating as hell to
fight it every once in a while. Morning pages give us the freedom to follow our
most impractical curiosities.Vomiting
never felt so good.Will you add this constant to your repertoire of faithful
forces?